With the clock winding down in the second overtime of Wednesday’s Class A state semifinal game, Shore-crest girls soccer coach Neal Wolfrath was starting to decide who he would send out for penalty kicks.
That scenario never materialized.
In the final minute, Lakeland Christian’s Bri Folds headed in a ball to beat the Chargers 2-1. It was the second straight year Shorecrest had its season end on a late goal by the Vikings.
“It’s disappointing for the team,” Wolfrath said. “But I think we proved that we belonged out there and really pushed the Shorecrest brand of soccer with the way we played.”
Entering the game, the Chargers knew they had to neutralize Folds, a sophomore who had 54 goals and 41 assists.
Shorecrest kept Folds in check for most of the game, but she still took advantage of the limited opportunities she had. In the first half, Folds connected on a long shot that ricocheted past the arms of the keeper and bounced in off the crossbar.
Sophie Wiltshire scored the Chargers’ lone goal in the first half to tie the game.
“I might be looking at this through Shorecrest-colored glasses,” Wolfrath said, “but I thought we did a pretty good job of taking away any clear-cut chances for Folds to score. We had some bad bounces that went against us.”
The game was a defensive struggle through most of the second half and both overtimes.
“I felt like we controlled the first overtime, but we couldn’t convert the chances we had,” Wolfrath said. “I liked our chances if we could have gotten to penalty kicks because we’ve won in that situation before. But they were able to score in the last minute. That was tough.”